Linyanti to Savuti 22 July

We left later than expected for Savuti and headed north. We were told the 40kms would be deep sand, but fortunately it was only about 5km and we made reasonable time. We travelled primarily through bush, passing the occassional elephant or buck. As we approached Savuti the landscape opened up into pans. We decided to go for a bit of a look around before heading to our campsite for lunch, which turned out to be an off road extravaganza. After meeting giraffe and a very old elephant who promptly sat down and sadly very much looked like he would not get up again, we headed to Quarry hill. What we thought was going around the hill ended up going up the hill on a very rocky track. From the top were spectacular views of the surrounding plains. Coming down was equally slow with the rocks and steepness. We then started to circle around back to camp. The map showed the tracks crossing the Savuti river back and forth but when we got to the river crossings they were huge and deep. We travelled quite a way south before the river started to subside enough for crossing. It was now swamp. As we were uncertain how deep the crossings were, Mandy got to walk throught the swamps first to see how deep they were, scaring the waterbuck out of the way, then directing Liam and the boys through with the car. At times the water came over the windows but we made it through. We later found out that the Savuti hadn't flowed for 36 years, so the maps were on the basis that it was dry. They have had to put in a bridge next to the camp to allow crossing. So now it was early afternoon by the time we got to camp, registered and found our site. Number 1 site again, by the river, we we lucky as the others were dust bowls, and we were the envy of the other campers. This time hornbills were terrorizing our camp, trying to steal the food wherever possible. After a lunch break we headed out in search of lions which we had been told had spotted a few km's away. We reached the supposed location, spotting lots of other game on the way but no lions. They are doing a good job of eluding us. We continued on with christopher and Mandy on the roof as scouts. Although it was another beautiful evening and lots of game, we weren't having any luck. There was a distinct lack of signs and after a while we were no longer sure where we were and the sun was fading fast. We turned around and headed in a northly direction. Lots of elephants were having dust baths. After a while we came across group of cars, we hadn't see anyone else that evening. They had found a leopard! We were very fortunate that it was hunting early and we could see it very clearly, a beautiful animal, not at all perturbed by the crowd around it. We had now seen all of the big 5. Further on we saw tsessbe, another type of antelope similar in size to a Kudu. We hadn't seen these before. As it was now almost dark, we followed one of the safari cars back arriving back in the dark. It wasn't long after, a fire was lit, we had dinner and bed.

Location:Chobe